Kashifu Inuwa Bags CEO Award As NITDA Trains 100 Journalists

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Kashifu Abdullahi Inuwa has won the 2022 ‘Foreign Investment Network (FIN)-Forbes Outstanding Corporate Governance CEO’.

Kashifu Inuwa was announced as the winner at a virtual award ceremony on Friday, just as NITDA concluded training of over 100 journalists on digital journalism and fact-checking.

Reading the citation, a Global AI Strategist and Innovator, Dalith Steiger described Inuwa as a versatile IT professional, strategist and transformation manager with experience spanning 16 years in private and public sectors.

“A graduate of Computer Science from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Kashifu is a thoroughbred IT professional and the first Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) in Nigeria’s public sector.

“He is also a Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT Sloan – trained strategist and has participated in various Leadership and Management courses in Harvard University, Cambridge University, and IMD Business School, Switzerland, among others.

“Following professional stints at Galaxy Backbone Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and sterling performance as the Technical Assistant to the then DG, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kashifu as DG of NITDA in August 2019”, Steiger added.

While appreciating FIN and Forbes for the recognition, Inuwa noted that NITDA has worked tirelessly to adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance.

“We have implemented robust processes and systems to ensure that our operations are transparent, accountable, and in line with our mission and core values”, he emphasised.

Meanwhile, President of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Chris Isiguzo has commended NITDA for commencing the New Year with the training of over 100 journalists in January.

At end of Digital Journalism Workshop and Fact-checking in Port-Harcourt, facilitated by Image Merchants Promotion Ltd (IMPR), Publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, the NUJ boss observed the media industry is facing challenges due to emerging technologies.

“It is painful to observe that some journalists lack adequate knowledge on modern digital tools for media coverage and reportage while others excessively rely on unreliable and fake media platforms as sources of information.

“The dearth of investigative journalism is also obvious where social media influencers claiming to be journalists become armchair reporters and critics by relying on hearsay on the internet to propagate fake news and hate speech.

“We are therefore glad that NITDA is organising workshops on digital journalism and fact-checking to enhance the capacity of journalists to professionally engage and deploy modern tools by broadening their skills in reporting and editing with the right knowledge of ICT”, Isiguzo added.

The training was held in Lagos, Enugu and Rivers States. In 2022, a similar capacity building was organised for journalists in Abuja, Kano, Kwara, Jigawa, Kebbi and other States.